Sign Spelling and Riding Horses to Entertain Ourselves

My girl and I were driving in the car today, and as she loves stop signs, and finding letters we know (Honestly-the post office is almost heavenly, since they have signs on the front of the counters, and she can find letters she knows while we are getting or sending mail-FANTASTIC!). So we were driving, and we were pointing out that the stop sign has an S and a T and an O and a P on it. We pulled up in front of the dollar store, and the little voice from the back pops up with, "There is a D, and an O, and an L, and an L..." before I realized that she was spelling the word on the store's sign. What a great girl! She is getting really good at some of those letters...

So, on we went, into the dollar store, to see if they had deals on anything. We found some Sesame Street wrapping paper. Elise picked one that was pink and one that was blue with red (Elmo monster). She then tucked the one in between her legs, and started jumping around saying, "Ga-amp". Then she held out the other roll and said, "Here Mama, you use the pink horse." I then found out she thought they were horses, and we were supposed to ride them through the store saying, "Gallup." I don't know where she got this idea, but it seemed to take a strong hold over her, and she continued to attempt this throughout the store, and tried to talk me into it as well, periodically being willing to trade. What a fun store visit! If anybody needs to liven up their shopping trips, I highly recomment using a roll of wrapping paper as a horse. And if that isn't lively enough, you can pause occasionally and say, "Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" and pretend to have the horse wiggle its tail. Elise could come show you how its done. And so, we came home and I asked her if I could take a picture of her with her horse. Here she is, wearing the "Daddy" shirt she picked out all by herself (she has a blue shirt, a grey shirt, and some brown pants, which she refers to as her Daddy clothes, since he wears similar clothes to work....I guess it helps her feel connected with him.) Anyways, we hope you have some fun wiggling and riding horses,....Hilarious --- especially for the other shoppers!

What is a joke?

So, this is another post about funny things my cute girl has said or done in the last couple days. She saw a picture of herself today on the fridge, asked to hold it, and told me it was a cute girl. How fun!

She said some very funny things today, as we were hanging out together, my girl and I. We drove in the car to run an errand, and as we were driving, she asked to read a story. I made an organizer in an effort to keep the car cleaner, so all the stories were in the organizer behind my seat, where she can't kick them with her shoes. I would reach back, while driving, grab a story, and hand it to her. In times past, we've worked really hard on her handing things to me, rather than throwing them on the floor where I can no longer reach them while driving. This includes books, her hat or sunglasses, anything really that she may want again later in the drive, or trash that she is done with. Today, when she was done looking at a book, she reached it forward to hand it to me, and to let me know it was there waiting for me to grab she would say, "You're welcome!" I would then reach back and get the book, then she'd ask for another, and I'd hand a new book to her. This happened with a couple books, and then I noticed her notification phrase had changed. Instead of saying, "You're welcome," she started saying, "My welcome." I laughed pretty hard at that one. We've really been struggling with the whole concept of MINE, which is firmly entrenched in her two year old mind. She's been hysterical at even the thought of sharing, even when the item in question isn't hers. So, the whole yours and mine thing is a bit skewed for her, and she put her own twist on the phrase, much to my amusement today.

The other way funny thing she said today happened as we were hanging out together before dinner. We were playing on the floor, and she was wrestling me a bit. Lately she has started putting her hand over her mouth and giggling, then she'll say, "That's funny, Elise." Its pretty funny to watch actually. So, today, she was giggling a bit, and then she said something about a joke. I didn't think she really understood that word, so I asked her, "A joke? What is a joke?"

She said, "A baby kangaroo. See, Elise is a mama kangaroo, have a baby joke." Then she started bouncing and hopping around the room. It was hilarious! I asked her if she meant a baby joey, and she said, "Yeah, a baby joke." What a fun girl!

And lastly. Logan's sister is getting married in August. She has requested that her two neices, both age 2 years, participate in the ceremony as flower girls. We figured we'll need a lot of practice, especially since our girl doesn't do well with large groups, new places, or new people. And she doesn't want to leave anything in her hair for longer than a couple minutes. So we were practicing last night with a basket, some fake petals from Jo-Ann's, and the wreath of flowers with ribbons on her head. She did ok with the ribbons, but after a while decided she didn't want to wear it any more. I asked her why, and she told me her hair is brown. She said she wants her hair to be brown, not ribbons. It was so cute! And she is doing very well with the throwing of the petals out of the basket. She is struggling doing the walking at the same time as the petal throwing, so for now it is more like: pause, grab handful of petals, distribute them around self, walk three steps making sure to step on the petals just dropped, then pause, grab a handful of petals, distribute them around self, and so on (notice the clumps behind her where pauses and petal distribution took place).

It was very cute, and we're hopeful that practicing will help her be more willing to participate, although she may want to walk all over the petals,

she may take forever to get all the way down the aisle, she might want to stop and pick up more petals if she runs out, and if she hasn't finished by the time she reaches the end of the aisle, she'll probably pause there until she gets every last petal out of her basket by dropping handfuls or dumping them over her head

(all these things have happened as we've used the hallway for our practice aisle). Needless to say, it should be fun to watch! She was so excited about practicing, that she did it all yesterday evening, decided her flower petals and basket had to stay by her bed all night, then asked about her petals first thing this morning, and chose practicing with petals over going swimming this afternoon. Fun times. So if anyone else wants to come play flower girls, you're welcome to come throw petals, pick them up, and throw them again, as many times as you'd like in the next two months!

More Funnies and a Cute Picture

Over the last several days, my girl has been way sick. She's had some down time sitting on the couch, so we've been practicing, helping my girl learn her name and age. I ask her what her name is, and she tells me. I ask her how old she is, and she tells me. She's gotten very good, and doesn't say she's frustrated any more. This morning we got up, and she is way better, so I told her I had a plan, that we would eat breakfast and read stories.

She said, "No, no, no. I have a plan."

I said, "Ok, what is your plan?"

She said, "I'm two."

I said, "That's not a plan. I have a plan..."

She again said, "No, no, no, Mama. I have a plan."

I said, "Ok, what's your plan?"

She said, "Elise Paige Underwood."

I said, "That's not a plan! That's your name. I have a plan."

She then said, "No, no, no, Mama. I have a plan."

I said, "Ok, what's your plan?"

She said, "I Elise Paige Underwood. I'm two."

It was very cute!

The other way cute thing she did today was to play dress up. This is not unusual. She has a dress up box, and frequently dresses up. Today was a bit different. She pulled out certain items from her back pack, including her bracelets, a ribbon she uses as a necklace or tie, her phone, and her keys. She put the bracelets on and told me she was just like Daddy. I asked if they were like Daddy's watch, and she replied that they were, just like Daddy. Then she put the ribbon around her neck, held it there with her chin, and told me again that she was just like Daddy. She held out her keys and told me they were just like Daddy's keys, and her phone, which was just like Daddy's phone. Then she walked down the hallway, pulling her backpack, and told me she was going to find Daddy, because she was just like Daddy. It was so cute! So of course, I asked her if I could have a picture. She said, "Sure." So here it is, the girl who is just like her Daddy:

Funny Sayings

Elise says some way cute things. We have been practicing her full name lately. After Logan left this week, we were playing outside, drawing pictures with the side walk chalk. I told her I would draw a picture of her. As I drew, she said her name really slowly, as though I was writing it out, "Elise Paige Underwood". Then I told her I could draw a picture of Daddy too (these are great stick figure drawings!). She then said, as I drew, "Daddy Paige Underwood". It was incredibly cute!!

So, today, I was talking with her, asking her name. She told me she was Elise Paige Underwood. I asked her how old she was. She said, "I'm frus-trated". I laughed pretty hard at that one. I told her she was two. She said, "No, I frus-trated". Finally after a couple practices she said she was two. What a fun girl!!!

And the last things is, Elise has a cousin who comes to play on Fridays. They are four months apart, and it is neat to see them learn about sharing together. Today, Elise has shaken my hand a couple times and said, "How are you?" like we are just meeting. After breakfast Elise and her cousin got down from their high chairs, shook hands, and the cousin said, "How are you?"

Elise said, "I'm fine."

Her cousin said, "Do you wanna play toys?" and Elise said, "OK"

It was very very cute! What great friends cousins can be!

Special Experience and Inherited Legacy

As I am shoulder deep in the daily challenges of raising our 2 year old daughter, I don't often reflect on my life before getting married and having Elise, or the legacy we have inherited from those who came before. Last week I had some time to reflect on those things as I sat on a couple planes. I realized how different my life is now, and how without realizing it, how I've slowly become disconnected to an extent from my family. My immediate family is pretty spread out nowadays, and we don't have many chances to sit down and chat. We haven't all been together in a couple years, and it has been way longer since I've seen most of my extended family. In our current situation, I find that I call my mom a lot for advice, or to just share the fun things Elise is doing. I talk with Logan all the time, of course, and for the most part, that is the extent of my socializing. In my pre-married life I had lots more time for staying in touch with family and friends, and for keeping those relationships strong. It was brought home to me this last weekend that I miss my family and friends. My life is very different now, and has been for the last four years, than it was for the first 27 years. I love my husband and daughter, and am not wishing my life were different or like it was in the good old days, but I am feeling that I've let myself get too disconnected from my family and friends, those who have helped me become who I am. The event that brought all these thoughts on was a special family 'reunion'.

About a month ago I was informed that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is opening a new Church History Library. There will be rooms in the building honoring people who have been influencial in preserving church history. My great grandpa Wilford C. Wood was one of those people. I grew up hearing stories about Grandpa Wood from my mom. She remembers trips she took with him back East to purchase artifacts and property important to church history. Mostly I remember that she rode on the elevator and had to call home about her chickens, and that she found a turtle on the highway and got to keep it as a pet. I remember going through the museum in Bountiful, Utah, which is where many of the things Grandpa collected are kept, and is the sight of his fur shop. I remember meeting Great Grandma Wood, and spending time in her basement apartment where she had a really cool stool. Growing up in California, we didn't have a whole lot of involvement with the museum, or our family there in Utah, except for occassional trips, which I have vague good impressions of as memories. Like I said, life is busy and hectic now, so not so much time for sitting around, thinking about how others have influenced my life.....

So, I was very interested when I was told that as part of the new building opening, there would be a special dinner held to honor Wilford C. Wood for his contributions to church history preservation, and that his decendents were to be invited to attend. This dinner was set to be on Thursday, May 28, 2009, and would be held in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building across from temple square in Salt Lake City, Utah. At first we thought it would be great for the three of us to go, especially as Logan was already scheduled to be in the lower 48 states during that time. As the time got closer, we realized we just couldn't pull that off for the three of us, and my sweet husband gave me the anniversary gift of going to the reunion event and a couple days with my family there in Utah. I haven't traveled anywhere by myself since Elise was born, so I was nervous about it, but Logan and Elise did great, and had lots of fun together. He is a great Daddy!

So, I left Elise in good hands and headed to Utah on Wednesday, May 27th. I spent the day with my older sister and her family. We got to go to the Salt Lake Temple (which was an incredible experience!), and have fun laughing together. I didn't realize I missed my sister that much, until we were back together having fun, and it was just comfortable hanging out, shopping, helping with her kids, and getting to know them now they are so grown up (those girls will always be babies to me, I guess). Then on Thursday, we had fun shopping, got our California girls (my mom and two younger sisters), shopped some more, and made it around to getting ready for the big dinner.

So the big dinner....

All 7 of us kids made it to the dinner. It was really neat to see everybody. There were 70 decendents of Wilford Wood at the dinner, and there were many church leaders (including Elder Dallin H. Oaks, an apostle, and some members of the Quorum of the 70) and historians present as well. They split us up with the seating, so I ended up sitting with my youngest sister (she's 16, and wore her cute prom dress. She was so cute! And I don't think I said anything that would have been embarrassing for her either!). We were at a table with Ron Esplin from the Joseph Smith Papers project, and Larry Porter, a retired teacher of church history from BYU. We had a young lady whose father was with the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation, and we also had a second cousin from the Cannon side of the family. It was interesting during the reception to hear how people were connected to or influenced by Grandpa Wood. There was a lovely presentation of slides and videos describing Grandpa Wood's interest in church history, and his contributions to preserving artifacts and properties important to Joseph Smith or the restoration and early history of the Church. Kenneth Cope sang a couple of songs, and a painting of Wilford Wood that will hang in the new library, was unveiled. The closing remarks were made by President Thomas S. Monson, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I hadn't realized that President Monson knew Grandpa Wood, but as President Monson explained in his remarks, Grandpa was a good friend. My mom got to sit at the table with the prophet, and told us that he remarked a couple times that Grandpa was a good friend to him. It was neat to hear the stories he told about meeting Grandpa, their work on Grandpa's books (Joseph Smith Begins His Work, Vols 1 & 2), and their friendship through the years. One of my younger sisters was seated near a reporter for the Deseret News, who asked her for her thoughts on the evening. Thankfully she was an English major, and expressed herself far better than I could have. She summed up very nicely how I felt. Elder Marlin K Jensen, Church Historian, said during the video presentation that history is not important until it becomes personal. My sister said that while we had grown up hearing stories about Grandpa Wood, we hadn't realized the impact his life had on others. We hadn't realized how important his contribution to preserving history had been, until we had seen the tribute being paid to him through this dinner, and the painting to be hung in the new library. The legacy he left was more visible as we saw the foundation work he laid using his own time and money as portrayed through the video presented at the dinner. It was really really neat. I felt more connected with the past, and my family, my ancestors as we had this special experience. It was great to meet cousins, aunts, and uncles, and to see how blessed we really are to be linked with this great group of people. I felt very close to my family that was present, and even more so to those who have already passed on, my grandparents and great grandparents. I was really glad all my siblings and their spouses were there to share that evening together.

I admit that after this last Christmas (which was celebrated over the phone), I was left feeling a bit frustrated, and very disconnected. So this trip, I made an effort this last week to make sure I talked to everybody, at least to say hello. I didn't have long, deep conversations with everybody, but I did feel as though the communication that happened had a positive feel. I tried hard to be outgoing, friendly, and try to re-establish those relationships, which I feel are very important, even though I don't have/make lots of time to be in touch with everybody one to one. (I guess I feel like I'm overwhelmed by the task of writing things to people individually since there are so many of us, so I put stuff on the blog instead. That's not the best solution, but it is my way of keeping in touch....for now). Anyways, I came away from last week feeling more connected, and more positive about those relationships with my siblings and their families. We left the dinner (after being locked in the building, but finally getting out), and them met up for breakfast in Provo/Orem the next morning. It was good to have a relaxing meal that was just the few of us (if 18 is a few!). I really missed Logan and Elise, and wished they could have been there (although I recognize as well, that if Elise had been there, she probably would have been freaked out by all the people she doesn't know, so it was ok that I was on my own, because it gave me the chance to talk with my siblings rather than being solely focused on keeping a 2 year old calm). We finished breakfast, went for a quick trip to the Kennecott Copper Mine, and then I was back on a plane for Oregon.

All in all, it was an incredible experience. I found myself getting emotional on the flight home as I reflected on my family inheritance, and on my relationships with my siblings. I don't know when I'll see them again, and I don't forsee that I'll have lots of time to communicate one on one as we're all busy with many things. I do know that I love my family. They are wonderful people, with good hearts, and I look forward to the next time we get together!

And for the record, there was an article in the June Ensign about the Church History Library: http://www.lds.org/

And an article in the Deseret News about the dinner for Wilford C. Wood:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705307223,00.html

And an article in the Mormon times about the dinner as well:

http://www.mormontimes.com/studies_doctrine/church_history/?linkTrack=mtEmail&id=8022

The pictures are neat there, and will have to do for now, since mine came out blurry, and then my camera battery died about halfway into President Monson's remarks. (Note to self: Make sure the batteries are charged the day of the big event, not a few days before!)

Anyways, I know this was a long post, but I wanted to share this great experience, and to tell my family I think they are incredible and awesome, and I look forward to the next get together, when hopefully they'll finally be able to meet my sweet daughter! And a big thank you to Logan, who made it possible for me to be at this reunion, and who is such a wonderful husband and father! Happy Anniversary sweetheart! And Happy Birthday too!